New Blog....

Well.  I've done it.  I've used up all the free space allotted to me.  So I had to re-invent myself and start a "new" blog.  If you care enough - follow us on over to bishopfamilygiggles.blogspot.com.  Hopefully I'll keep you laughing and keep you updated on our family.  Thanks for helping me get over 25,000 hits on this little blog...

Double Digits...

It's a remarkable thing to have a 10 year-old daughter.  It seems like yesterday that Brooke looked like this...

 And that Tom had hair....

 Brooke on her blessing day...

 and 1 month old...

 I remember crying when mum and dad had to leave us and go back to their own lives.  It was so overwhelming to be responsible for this perfect little person.  And it was up to me to screw her up...

I don't think we've done too bad so far.

 Brooke is a sweet, sweet girl that loves babies and little kids, is a little too smart, loves to read and loves to sing.  She loves to play outside and is a wonderful friend.   I'm thankful that she was chosen to be our biggest sister.  We love you, Brooke!

Quote of the Day...

Boobs will be mentioned in this post, so if you have a problem with that, go stalk another blog.... =)

Background....I was talking to Tom about my Halloween costume and told him the Rolling Stones shirt I'd found for myself was a "boob shirt."   A week later.....

Brooke - "Mom? What's a boob shirt?"
me - She heard me say that?  Oops... "Well.  It's a shirt that kind of shows your chest a lot."
Brooke -  "Yeah.  I've seen some ladies with really tight shirts.  I know they think it's going to keep them smooshed down and not show so much, but it just doesn't work."
me - "You're right, sweetie.  You are so right...."

I guess the kids can have fun at Halloween too...

Carving pumpkins

Ready for the Halloween Dance Party...

Dancing the night away...

Alix in her princess costume

 Erin the vampire

 Sam, a scary witch

Brooke as a ninja

 Erin the vampire - take 2

 Alix the GoGo dancer

 Sam as a grumpy sailor... I think she was going for scary

 The trick or treating posse

Alix's haul....

and her row of m&ms after the trading ended

Erin's stash...

and KitKat alley...

Brooke- happy as a clam

Just for fun...

Here is a record of our Halloween parties over the years...  I'm sure I haven't aged a day... =)

Year 1 - 2005

Year 2 - 2006

Year 3 - 2007   Oddly, I have no pictures of this year... Boo.  Hiss...

Year 4 - 2008

 Year 5 - 2009

 Year 6 - 2010

 Year 7 - 2011

 Year 8 - 2012

Halloween Party - the 8th year....

Our annual Halloween party (adults only - costumes mandatory...) was on Friday night.  It is one of my favorite nights of the year.  Pure fun.  And tons of laughter.  The newly dead game is always good for some marital discord and laughs...  I think, across the board, we had the best costumes this year.  Everyone went all out and it was spectacular!  It's getting tricky to come up with a costume every year that no one has done before...

Drink table... 

 Spooky candy display...

Yeah.  We're bad... 

My personal favorite of the night was MaryAnn.  She's 9 months pregnant (due in less than a week) and made great use of that belly!  

 And aren't the France's creepy?  

As always, the mummy game... We have new champions.  The Moecks (first time party goers...) dethroned the Walthers... 

 Candy corn toss.  This year the ladies tossed...  The Hills found a loop-hole and won by default... (cheaters!!)

 And the whole crowd of us.  We had 10 couples this year and that is just about right...

So glad I have great friends that are so much fun!

Fallin' in love...

With this time of year...

 Our annual trip to the pumpkin patch was a little rushed this year, but we still fit in all the important stuff.

Like Sam tipping over the wheelbarrow...

 And Brooke picking the biggest pumpkin she could lift...

 Same pictures as always....

 Giant hula-hooping...

 A little twin time...

 Thanks for hiding your glares this year... (my least favorite picture of all time is in front of this backdrop when 5 out of 5 people in my (super-loving) family are glaring at me for all their worth...)

 Crashing in the sawdust pile...

From here until the end of the year is my favorite time.  So much fun and family time.  So many traditions.  Love it!

Must be doing something right...

I bought Brooke a pair of cute, purple and turquoise shorts at a garage sale for 50 cents.  Good deal, right?  It was a significantly better deal when she found a $20 bill in the pocket... She was SO excited.  I couldn't manipulate convince her that the money should be mine, since I bought the shorts...  She was figuring out her tithing and what she'd do with the rest, when she paused...
"Mom.  I don't think this is really my money, is it?"
me- "What are you thinking?"  (I like to see how their brains work, before I insert my own opinion...)
"It's really the money of the people who we got the shorts from."
me- "I think you're right, Brooke.  What should we do?"
"We should take it back."
And so we did.  It was a great chance to talk about honesty and also about the promptings of the Holy Ghost and how He could help her know the right thing to do.  I'm proud of the girl that Brooke is turning out to be.  Love you, Brooke!

DIY Halloween Silhouette... (and bonus spider web)

I've had several people ask about how to do the silhouettes I put up every Halloween and so here it is...

 They are really simple and cheap (cuz that's how I work...) and reusable from year to year.  This is our fourth year using the big ones.  So I don't have step by step pictures, but you'll get the idea...

 The jack-o-latern face and Boo silhouettes are made from large black garbage bags.  (Told you it was cheap...)  I had to tape two bags together with duct tape since our windows are pretty large.  Then I used a black sharpie and drew on the shape I want.  You can (weirdly enough) see it on the black bag.  Then cut out the pieces.  I first used orange tissue paper (you can see that on the Boo) but last year the jack-o-latern needed a little love and I switched the paper for a $1 orange, plastic table cloth.  Which is much better.  You can see my tape through the orange.  I just taped it all down and put little bits of tape on each tooth and eyeball, so they didn't droop.  (I made both big ones in about an hour.)

 Here is the Boo with tissue paper.  I'll switch it out to a table cloth this year when i take them down.  It hangs better and stores easier with the plastic.  Then I just tape it around the window using painter's tape.  And when the season is over - I just fold the tape down so it can't stick to the garbage bag.  This makes a nice stiff border after a couple of years... =)  Then I fold them up, like a blanket, and stuff them in the Halloween boxes.

 For the skulls - I just bought some felt skulls from the dollar store and taped them onto butcher paper.  I throw away the paper and just save the skull for next year.

So, there you have it.  Super easy, super cheap, super fun Halloween silhouettes.

And for those that asked about the spider problem we have every year...  It's rope.  The branches are 6 long ropes tied in the middle and stretched out and attached with a staple gun or tent stakes to whatever Tom can find... It's a little different every year.  They need to be pretty taught.  Then he starts in the middle with a long rope and keeping it tight, wraps it around the branches and spins his magic...  

 The spiders have flexible legs, so he just bends their legs tightly around the rope and they hang around for the season.